


Oneshot, Gamers

by Sol_Vikar



Series: Mass Effect Survival [2]
Category: Mass Effect, Original Work
Genre: F/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-02
Updated: 2015-03-02
Packaged: 2018-03-16 00:45:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3468071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sol_Vikar/pseuds/Sol_Vikar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From Tumbler: if you are still doing prompts sol how about story about a human male gamer/female turian gamer meeting and falling for each other at a local game store on the citadel over either an old human game or a turian one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Oneshot, Gamers

**Author's Note:**

> You will most likely see these two in Part two of my main Fic if I don't blatantly rip this up to parts and expand on it to cover the planned chapters

Red couldn't get the image of the black turian in the blue and green trimmed dresssucking face with the green eyed man out of his mind.  The twinge of anger and jealousy simmered like a hot coal in the pit of his stomach.  His anger chilled slightly as he remembered the female turians passionate embrace in the clothing boutique.  The details of the encounter came into sharp focus at the slightest provocation.

A red flash on the screen in front of him drew him out of his reverie.  He tried to focus on the screen but the ghostly image of the blue tattooed turian kept drifting into his minds eye distracting him as the encounter played out.  Before he knew it the health bars of his entire team of little orcs were dangerously low.  He quit out of the session flippantly and sat in front of the title screen to Dungeon Hunter, his mind wandering.

"Get off your ass and come eat!" Came the nasally voice of the group home supervisor.

Sighing dramatically Red ran his fingers through his curly red hair and slowly stood from the armless rocking chair pointed at a small holo screen.  Its interfaces turned off sensing the departed occupant and powered down.  He trudged from the rec room and sullenly looked around the grimy walls of the dining room.  Posters and drawings from the homes younger occupants were affixed to the dining room walls seemingly at random.  Red spied a color drawing in one corner of a poorly drawn Alliance frigate.  The manilla colored paper might as well be yellowed with age as Red had drawn it many years ago when he had first come to the group home.

He remembered the fervor with which he had drawn it.  Lofty hopes of someday piloting such a splendid vessel still fresh on his mind.  His foster parents had sold him on being sent to the Citadel based on the promise of being able to enter Alliance JROTC.  Which had been a lie, partially.  Red had come and applied when he had turned 17 but was turned away when his medical screening revealed that he had a rare kidney condition that wasn't treatable.  Compounding this was the fact that any hard physical strain threatened to overload his failing kidneys.  The doctors had said they could vat grow new organs for him, but it was a temporary solution since the enzymes that broke down cells were regulated elsewhere and could not be fixed. As a result he had put on some considerable weight.

He grunted as he slid into the bench seat set up against the long plastic dinning room table.  The group home supervisor came in and placed a steaming bowl of gumbo in front of him.  His hawkish face looking down at the teen with what Red had come to learn was a permanent look of disgust on his face.  Red thanked the middle aged man and stared after him as his receding hairline retreated back into the kitchen.

He ate in silence.  The home was usually this quiet during the weekdays as it's tenants were either working for meager wages or finding ways to make that money disappear with the reckless abandon typical of teenagers.  Red thought again about the pretty turian in the boutique and touched his lips as he stared down at the empty bowl in front of him.  An urge to flee, to get away from the depressing clutter of the group home overcame him as the silence became overwhelming.

He slowly stood again and deposited his dishes in the washer before grabbing his favorite faded blue tanker jacket and slipped out into the Wards.  He didn't have work until noon the next day so he decided on taking a trip to the Silversun strip.  He found his feet had sent him to one of the less frequented gaming halls on the strip as he looked up at the flickering and failing lights adorning the arched entrance of the hall.

He took a deep breath and entered.  The smell of stale junk food and something sticky and sweet permeated the air as his eyes adjusted to the dim lighting of the arcade.  It was a rectangular hall with booths lining the majority of its walls.  The soft glow of the various holo screens in each booth cast long shadows on the burgundy and black striped high traffic carpet.  The arcade seemed more vacant than usual, which Red found comforting.  Typically the place only filled out during tournament nights or when some new AAA title had come out. 

Nodding at the clerk behind the service desk set off to the side of the entrance he subconsciously thumbed his credit chit in his pocket as he made his way to the back corner of the arcade.  Another small relief came over him as he saw that his usual spot was unoccupied.  He practically fell into the cushy padded gaming chair and sighed as the familiar console and monitor hummed in front of him, ready to let him escape reality.  He slipped the credit chit into a small notch at the base of the console and slid a pair of well worn VR goggles over his eyes.  The system recognized him based on his credit chit id number and loaded his profile. Seemingly random alphanumerics scrolled by his vision as it did so.  A quick flick of the eyes brought up the main menu.  A list of titles hovered in front of him.  He chewed on the corner of his lip as indecision stalled his actions.

He shrugged to no one in particular and brought up a list of LAN games currently underway, his fingers manipulating the control studs set into the armrests of the chair deftly.  A modded version of some Spectre First Person Shooter seemed to have the most players currently so he selected it and entered a que for the next round.

He closed his eyes and waited for the chime for the round to begin, focusing himself.  A bicycle horn sounded and he frowned and opened his eyes to a cartoonish landscape of bright colors.  Flowers with smiling faces danced along teal grass trails between poorly rendered trees.  Looking down at his default weapon he saw a steel pipe with a stuffed bunny rabbit sloppily taped to the end.  He gave a tree a tentative wack and was rewarded with squeaky toy sound.

_What the hell is this._

He heard the sound of jingling bells behind him and turned to see a clown with pipe in hand running at him full tilt.  Red tried to select another weapon but realized he had none.  He jump to the side and swatted at the clown with his pipe as he neared.  The clown jumped as well and swung back.  They began circling and swinging at one another.

*squeek*

*squeek* *squeek*

*squeek*

**"CRITICAL!"**

The booming voice of the announcer made Red jump in his chair as the clown exploded into pink cloud of smoke.  Red looked down to see pair of hovering clown shoes spinning slowly.  He figured it to be a power up and ran through it.  His vision took on a green tinge as his movement speed and sensitivity jacked up nearly 100%. It took a few seconds but he managed to get used to it and was soon running down the twisting grass path.

He entered a clearing with a small group of log cabins at its far side and edged  along the clearing to them.  He entered the cabin closest to the treeline and began searching it.  The rooms were sparsely decorated with waxy looking furniture adorning each room.  His vision started blinking back to normal as the power up wore off.  He waited it out and exited the cabin only to follow a narrow dirt road to the next cabin.  He managed to get to the living room before he came under attack again.

This time it was a anthropomorphic bunny rabbit wielding a club painted to look like a carrot.  The jumping dance began again as they hopped around one another swinging madly at one another.  Red bit the corner of his mouth as he concentrated, trying to get the timing just right. 

**"THIS COLD WAR JUST GOT HOT!"**

His goggles blacked out for a few seconds before suddenly replaying what had happened in the third person.  He groaned as he watched their avatars hit each other with their melee weapons at nearly the same time.  It was close enough for the VI to call it a draw.

"THAT WAS GARBO!"

Red removed his goggles at the angry outburst and tried to lean out of his chair to see where it had come from.  He heard something being thrown and saw the outline of a young turian stand and storm out of a gaming kiosk.

"Yenna, you break another pair of goggles and I'm banning you." Came the bored voice of the attended at the front desk.

"Oh cram it meat stick!"  The voice was high pitched and furious. "You need new ones anyway, the lag is terribad."

Red squinted to get a better look at the turian but could only make out the back of its head as it faced the front desk and made a rude gesture.  The attendant merely yawned and went back to reading from a datapad. 

It suddenly turned and faced the rear of the hall and spotted Red's face peeking out from his kiosk.

"That was YOU wasn't it?!"

_Oh damn!_

He panicked and righted himself in the chair, frantically logging out of the server.  He glanced over his shoulder and froze as the turian was suddenly glaring down at him, hands on her hips.  The monitor in front of him emitted a beep signifying he had logged out successfully.

"You're not slick buddy, I saw the menu screen." She said angrily as she pointed at the monitor.

"Uhhhh" Red's  mind seemed to cease to function as he looked up at the furious turian.  She was barefaced, meaning she was probably not old enough to swear to her home colony. Her cream colored carapace shone dully in the dim lights as her vivid red eyes glared at him.  She tugged at the hem of a purple Thracia Threshers t-shirt covering a midriff of gray skin. Tattered black baggy pants with red flannel trim along its waistband hung loosely from her hips.  Various chains and other charms were attached to  the belt loops of her pants, making them jingle with every movement.

"I uhh.." Red started, his mouth slightly agape.

"What?!" She snorted while crossing her arms.

"It was a draw?"

"Ugh,  I created that mod to keep pubbies like you out." She looked away and sighed.

"It was an interesting take on Mexta knights."

The turian's head snapped back to him and her eyes narrowed.

"How did you know?"

Red relaxed a bit and flipped up an arm rest so he could sit over the side of the gaming chair.

"The speed power up.  Galaxy of fantasy has something like that along with Spirit vision, which is all derived from ancient turian history. Specifically knights templars channeling the spirits of ancestors to defeat Campamedusae."

A faint smirk played across her face as she searched the humans face.

"You're still a pubbie."

"Wanna go again?" He smiled cautiously.

Her bare clawed feet dug at the gaudy high traffic carpet, talons snagging on it's fibers as she mulled over the challenge. A wicked smile lit her face up.

"If we do this it's one on one."

"Sounds good to me."

"Oh you are gonna get  _bodied_ so _hard_ pub."  She said as she turned away and left to retrieve her stuff.  She came back as Red began logging back in.  He perched his gogs on his forehead and watched as she struggled to drag a chair into the small booth from another.

"Theres no secondary gog jack." She noted as she started to get settled.

"You could use mine and I can play off the screen." Red said as she pulled something out of a small black backpack and munched on it noisily.

"Pff, your funeral pub." She laughed as she wiped crumbs from her clawed hand onto the seat and accepted the goggles.

"No screen peeking!" Red declared as they logged in and created a private session.  Red couldn't help but glance over at her as she reclined in her chair and rested her head.  Her features went mostly slack as she flipped through menus. Her mandibles and tongue twitching every so often as she finalized some settings and hit start.

"Stop pervin.  -and we’re gonna do a traditional version." She said absently as her black painted claws danced over the control studs.

Red looked back at the screen in embarrassment as the game started.  Gone were the gaylee colored pastels and childish renderings of some magical forest.  Red panned around the new setting to see that they were in a barn of some sort with a straw covered dirt floor.  Torches mounted to vertical beams cast the periphery of the barn in shadow.  The stables and pens looking like gaping black maws.  Red saw a flash of light and flinched as thunder roared from the speakers.  At the far end of the barn were huge double doors open to the pitch black of night.

“I’m coming for you pub.” She teased as her goggled face smiled at him from her chair.  Red focused and started to tentatively explore his surroundings. 

He left the barn and followed a torch lit path to a cobblestone road that cut a line through the stone and wood huts of a medieval looking village.  He saw a flash of movement down an alleyway so he ducked into a darkened doorway and waited.

A cloaked figure rushed passed the doorway, sword in hand.  Red jumped out and swung, connecting solidly with the figures shoulder and neck.  He heard a sharp intake of breath and looked over in time to see the turian swipe the goggles of her head with one hand as she punched him in the arm with another.

“I HATE YOU”

“Ow!” Red exclaimed as he rubbed his arm.  “You are such a sore loser!”

Her eyes widened at the pained expression on the humans face.

“Oh damn pub, I forgot you humers’ don't have plates.  My B.  Wanna go for another round?”

“Not if you’re gonna keep being a sore loser.” He said growing annoyed at how dismissive she was.

“Fiine, I’m sorry.” She said after a pause.  Red’s anger dissipated as she fidgeted anxiously in her seat. 

“Ok, lets do it.”

They started again but this time Red found himself in a castle.  Yenna was on him in moments, running from a stone archway.  Her character wearing light steel plate armor and helmet.  Red strafed to the side and managed the first salvo of attacks, her avatars blade a blur as it scythed towards him.  He jumped away from another attack onto a crude wooden banquet table and-

-Got stuck!  He frantically tried to get his character to move but he had clipped into the table itself and could only swing feebly as Yanna’s avatar rushed at him.  It stopped short and stood at the ready as he heard a peculiar noise next to him.  He tore his eyes from the screen to see the turian snorting in laughter.

“Dood, look at this!” She said between snorts of mirth.  Red accepted the goggles and slipped them on to see his character spazzing out on the table.  A leg flailing with no regard to physics or anatomy.

“Oookaay”  He whistled as he handed the gogs back to Yenna.

“Draw?”  She said as she propped them on her forehead.

“For sure.”

“I’m no good at first person games anyway.” She said while waving a hand dismissively.

“Sure could have fooled me -OW”

“That you earned.”

Red rubbed at the bruised spot on his arm while she took another bite of something in her backpack.

“So what else do you play?” She asked around a mouth full of crumbs.  Red couldn't help but laugh at the small pile of crumbs collecting in her bony collar. 

“What?”  She said getting defensive.

“Lemme get some of those scraps, lookin all tasty over there.” He replied while he pointed.  Yenna looked down at the pile and shot Red a sly look as her tongue snaked out and lapped at the crumbs, her eyes glinting mischievously.  She burst into laughter at the disquiet that came over the human and he turned beat red in embarrassment.

“Not so funny are you now pub?”  She teased.

Her omni chimed and she looked down at her wrist, mandibles twitching as she read the message.

“Aww crap, I gotta go cover a shift.  Watcha doin tomorrow?” She said as she gathered her things.

“Uh, work.”

“M’kay, well I guess I’ll see you around then.”  She said as she stood to leave.  She seemed to pause uncertainly for a second before turning and leaving.  Red watched after her and then cursed as he realized what she was asking.  He hurriedly grabbed his things and chased after her.

She was a few feet out the door before he caught up, breathing hard from the short sprint. 

“Hey! I never caught you name.”

 She turned, surprise widening her eyes.

"Cause I never gave it, Pub.”  She said crossly.

“Uh ok. I’m sorry.”  He replied looking crestfallen.

“You are a freakin childrens show, you know that?  About as subtle as a sledgehammer for brain surgery.  It’s Yenna by the way.  Here-” She flicked on her Omni and broadcast her ID.  Red scrambled to pull out his pocket communicator and copy it.

“Damn pub, still on the retro tech kick eh?  I can dig it.”  She remarked as he fumbled with the small device.

“Uh, my omni is in the shop for repairs.” He lied as he tried to find her frequency. “Dammit you’re standing right here, I’m getting nothing, could you do it again?”

She rolled her eyes but did so.

“Got it! My names Radcliff, friends call me Red.  Uh, so now what?”

“Hit me up when you’re free, I’ll send some grids.”

“Ok!”  _That was a little too enthusiastic, play it cool._   “It’s whatever, you know.”

Another wave of laughter rippled through her as she turned to leave again.

“Yea pub, see ya.”

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The minutes ticked by like molasses. Red found himself wandering FLUX with his busboy cart aimlessly.  He seemed to end up at the corner booth where the human and turian had sat so many weeks ago.  The couple that occupied it now looked at him curiously as he stared at the booth without really seeing it.

“What are you  _doing?_ You’re weirding out customers”

Red started as he turned to see where the familiar voice had come from.  One of the asari waitresses stood impatiently by a small register kiosk.

“Uh, sorry.” Red said lamely as he pushed his cart away from the booth towards the kiosk.  The waitress frowned and went back to inputting orders on the small screen.

“Say, you've been around for a while.  Do interspecies relationships typically pan out?”

The Waitress made a face and turned her head slowly to the red headed teen. The simple white bar of lipstick centered on her lower lip squirming as she formulated a response.  She finally shrugged and sighed, leaning against the kiosk as she crossed her arms and regarded the human more intensely.

“Thats a fairly ambiguous question.  As a matter of practice I can definitively say yes it does as my species now rely on other species for mates, though it is not necessary.  I am guessing this has to do with the Cabalist and Alliance Marine that were here a while ago?”

Red fidgeted at how quickly she cut to the bone. But He eventually met her almost motherly gaze and nodded weakly.

“Though it’s not them, I mean it is but it’s complicated. -I kind of met someone but I dunno if such a thing is actually possible with humans.” 

He buried his hands in his jumpsuits pockets and toes at the carpet.  He remembered Yenna doing the same and his embarrassment intensified as he thought the asari was reading his mind right now.  At least that was the myth anyway.

“Let me tell you something, prior to “settling down” here I had wandered the galaxy for more than 300 years.  I’d had a partner for the first 50, and then he passed away of old age.  I got to watch a flower grow, bloom and die as if it were a timelapse film. 

It crushed me.  I felt cheated and that the other races were a cruel joke created by the Goddess.  It took me another 100 years to get over it and accept who and what I was, to accept that the others species fleeting mortality is a gift.

It took me one of your lifetimes to realize this.  You do not have that luxury.  I would advise that you find out for yourself and enjoy what you can while you can.”

Red balked slightly at the how calmly and succinctly she described a century of anguish.

“Thats some pretty heavy stuff dude.  -Like I’m not head over heels or anything.  It’s just that up until recently I thought a chick was a chick.  Like it never occurred to me that interspecies friendships could be a thing and that there would be challenges.  -I mean I know it is and there are but I’ve never experienced it before.  I’ve been here for almost 4 years but I keep to my own kind mostly.”

The asari smiled tolerantly and folded her hands at her waist.

 _Uh oh, thats how they pose to read minds!_ Red tried to blank out his mind as she spoke, his nerves creating phantom sensations of fingers probing his mind for information.

“Take the chance, get to know some people.  More importantly; get back to work!”  She said with a slight edge and left him at the kiosk.

Red stood there for a while thinking intently before he pushed himself to move and set about making another round, cleaning tables off.

What started off as anxious anticipation at where the night would take him turned into dread as the end of his shift came.  He changed out of his soiled jumpsuit and put on his best clothes before he stood on a walkway staring at his communicator, the screen asking if he would like to call the number listed.

Taking a deep breath he opted to send the red eyed turian a message instead.

Heyo, off finally.  So whatcha up to?

-R  
  
A nerve fraying ten minutes elapsed before his communicator chirped, still in his hand.  He briefly contemplated ignoring it and just going home as his nerves started to get the better of him.  He finally set his jaw and forced himself to read it.

T.Ward, unit 314.  Bring some gogs pub. 

-Y

=-=-=-=-=-

She was waiting at the door as he turned a corner and started walking down the hall of the small apartment complex, taking away his ability to second guess himself further.  The hall had a smell of cabbage and something salty being cooked.  It’s bone white walls were a stark contrast to the black painted walls of the tiny studio apartment he entered after she smirked at him in the doorway and beckoned him inside with a dismissive wave. 

Posters for various rock bands and tv shows plastered the walls at random.  Red noted with some surprise that a good chunk of them were human with a smattering of some Krogan death metal bands.

“You just come from service or something pub?” she said jokingly as she rounded a small beaten black leather loveseat and plopped down, an assortment of snacks littering an armrest. Red looked down at his threadbare slacks and grubby button up t-shirt several sizes too small.

“Naw, just work.”  he said uncertainly as he rounded the loveseat as well and looked around for another spot to sit. 

The studio apartment was littered with food wrappers and unrecognizable gadgetry. 

“What is all this?”  He said while he looked around some more.

“Nonya Punk.  Did you bring your gogs?”  She said as her head tilted slightly and she regarded him with hooded eyes.

“Uh yea, where should I jack in?”

She pointed to a small console set next to the loveseat and took a sip from some sort of pouch with a wide flat straw sticking out of it.  Red shrugged and unslung his knapsack and started uncoiling cables to jack in.  Yenna prodded his knapsack with a black painted talon and smiled.

“You bus at FLUX, you aint gotta lie to kick it.”

Red could feel his face color with embarrassment.

“Yea, whatever.”

She shrugged and slipped on her goggles, calling up omni controls on her lap as she started to jack in.

“Hurry up pub, follow my ID tag we’re going old school since that's your kick.”

Red smiled weakly and slid down infront of the loveseat, leaning against it as he slid his goggles on and called up his own controls.  The apprehension was gone as he slipped into the digital world.  He sound her ID and followed her into a server lobby.  He looked around and found her avatar, a hooded figure with no face but glowing red eyes, standing next to a pixelated wooden door.

“C’mon pub, I hope your interface has key presetting.” Her voice echoed oddly as he heard her behind him on the couch and in game.  He scrolled over to her and they entered.  The game loaded it’s splash screen rolling across his vision in pixelated script.

** Diablo 10: Rise of the fallen. **

“Oh hell yes, its been aaages.” Red exclaimed as they entered the world. He looked around to see the familiar wooded landscape of Khanduras 

“Quite admiring the scenery and lets get to it.” Yenna chided as her avatar moved towards a cave entrance.

=-=-=-=-=-

Red stretched as his back ached from sitting for so long.  He gasped as he slid off his goggles and noted the time on his communicator.  They had been at it for a solid 6 hours, diving into instance after instance. 

There had been some rocky moments where one or the other had dawdled and was promptly mobbed by the various creatures common to the game.  One such instance had earned him a clawed foot to the ribs as he fumbled with his controls trying to cast a healing spell.  Yennas avatar wailed as it was buried by flaming imps.

The very next instance had him being skewered by a 15 foot skeleton and its flaming sword earning her a swat against the shins. (Which hurt him more than it did her.)  They eventually got into a rhythm of working together and had accumulated a decent haul of loot. 

Red felt her shift on the couch and looked up to see Yenna slid her goggles off as well and rub at her eyes with her knuckles.

“Oh man, that was some good stuff.  Same tomorrow?”  She yawned. 

“Yeah, I mean if you’re free.” Red nodded enthusiastically.

“Oh I work from home, all this stuff is work, I fix the small components for a repair company. Just hit me up whenever.”  She clicked her fingers and smiled.  “Oh damn, you should let me take a look at your Omni!”

Red thought his stomach had managed to punch a hole through the floor as panic set in.

“I uhhhh.”

“What?”  Her blood red eyes looked like lazers ready to blow holes in his head. 

He lowered his gaze and picked at a wayward thread on a pant leg.

“I uhh..  I can't afford one, I’m sorry I lied.”  It sounded stupid and he hated himself immediately. 

“Yea I figured as much.  No hard feelings man.  You came clean when I asked.  But dude, you gotta change up the outfit.  I ain't running an accounting firm.  Just be chill pub.” 

Red looked up at her, still ashamed from his admission but was met with a genuine smile as she slid down next to him on the floor and began rummaging with a pile of gadgets.  She turned to him and grabbed his wrist, her fingers were cool to the touch.  He looked into her eyes uncertainly as her grin widened.  He felt something cool and metallic slip onto his wrist and looked down to see the dull black of an Omni bracelet embracing it.

“Client bought a knock off thinking it was a Serrice Council Specter X.  Its Just an Armax rebrand with faulty programming.  I’ll tell him it was a lost cause.”

He was moving before he could even realize what he was doing.  She exhaled sharply in surprise as he hugged her.  She overcame the shock of sudden contact and reciprocated, breathing him in as she wrapped her arms around his pudgy frame.  Despite the smell of cooking grease from his job he actually smelled pretty good.  The amount of heat he put off was amazing as well. She actually had to force herself to stop sniffing at him and smiled as they parted.

“Sorry, I’m sorry.  It’s just I’ve never been given anything like this before.”  He was gushing,  Yenna was fascinated with how the freckles on his face seemed to darken as he became flushed with emotion.

“It’s good Red.  I’ll see ya tomorrow.”  He nodded happily and packed up his stuff.  He couldn't help but look down at the Omni as he did so.  A tremendous up welling of glee threatening to erupt as a squee each time he did so.  Yenna watched with amusement at the apparent giddiness that overcame the human.  A small pang of sadness came over her as he had to leave.

She followed him to the door and tugged at a sleeve of his poorly fitted shirt.  He faced her, his expression still giddy.

“Oh so you think you can just make off with my goods and not pay the toll eh.”  She said playfully.  She moved before he could say anything and pecked him on the cheek.

“Come back, and bring your A game next time.”  She laughed as his expression blanked.

Red came out of his daze staring at her closed door, debating on whether or not he had hallucinated the whole thing.  He had just arrived right?  He slipped a hand into a pocket to check the time on his communicator but was baffled when something on his wrist snagged on the pocket opening.  He looked down at the Omni bracelet as if it was an alien object. 

When he got home his face hurt from smiling the whole way.

=-=-=-=-=-

It was Yennas turn to feel all the apprehension in the galaxy bear down on her.  She tried to burn through the nervous energy buy burning through a backlog of repairs that were almost overdue.  When she had effectively fixed everything in her inventory she set about organizing and tidying up but found herself still staring at the clock. 

When Red finally did message her she practically jumped for joy and started up her console.  There was a chime and she looked at her small holo screen to see a delivery man at the apartment entrance on the security feed.  She accepted the parcels and set about unpacking and heating the human food.

Red entered a while later to the smell of delicious food and a beaming Yenna.

“I hope you brought that A game, I found a few others that will be on tonight.”  She said as he followed her into the small studio apartment.        

And so it went for the next fews weeks, gaming into the wee hours, getting to know one another more and more until they both became blind to each others differences.  One night they changed it up and played a rather elaborate fighter simulator.  Red looked up from his now claimed spot at her feet in front of the love seat.  They had tried playing next to one another but their elbows kept getting in the way of one another.  Red brought a cushion which stayed at her place so that he could be more comfortable as he sat on the floor.

“This is only one player?”  He asked, his eyebrows arched in confusion.

“Take a look at the controls Radman, only humans and Asari really get the hang of it.  I’ve always wanted to play but I don’t have the digits for it.”  She said conversationally as she leaned over in the loveseat and rested her chin on his shoulder. looking down at the holo controls being projected on his lap.

They had become very close but had not moved into more intimate things, each one not quite feeling the time was right.

Red looked down and whistled as the configuration of his controls changed.  He felt that even having five fingers were not enough to handle all the systems involved with piloting the Fighter Bomber.

“Uh yea, but like I said, unless you wanna spec this You’re assed out dude.” 

“Not quite.” she whispered mischievously into his ear making him giggle as it tickled.  She sat up and scooted closer to him.  She looked at him nervously as she hesitated for a moment.

“No pervin!” She said as she held down the hem of her miniskirt between her legs and threw one over him so she sat centered behind him with a leg on either side.

“Split up your controls and give me a clone feed of your perspective.” she said as she adjusted to get more comfortable and slid her bare legs so that her feet rested on his crossed legs.  Red grew nervous about having such long claws so close to his junk.  He leaned back and could feel the muscles in her thighs twitch as his head was practically in her lap.

He smiled as he looked over to see her spurs right next to him and picked up an empty food carton and hung it on one.  He laughed an apology as she swatted the back of his head and pinched her knees painfully into his ribs.  After they got settled she started talking him through her plan.

“Ok so, I will take energy management and shielding control.  You handle the flying and weapons.  I’ll see if I can manage the sensor suit as well, we’ll do a practice run in atmo with drone before going online and embarrassing ourselves. -Or namely you, its not my ID that's being logged.”

The both slid their goggles on and leaped into the cockpit of an already flying Fighter Bomber on planet “Unobtainia.”  Red got the flying bit down fairly quickly but struggled with weapons.

“Why is it not letting me select the Thanix?”

“I need to give it power, let me know when you want a particular weapon.  Also could you quit looking around so fast, you’re making me sick dude.”

“K”

They practiced for a while until they started to develop a shorthand for everything.  When he was about to bank and check his rear he would squeeze a leg between his elbow and ribs and she would close her eyes to avoid getting motion sick as she deftly transferred energy to thrusters and weapons in case there was someone there. 

When she needed to build up power to augment a subsystem or reinforce shielding she would tap him with a toe for power and squeeze his ribs with her knees lightly for shielding.  When they were essentially functioning as one being they gave online play a go.

 

It was a massacre.  Red smiled as Yenna laughed uproariously as another fighter was immolated by a barrage of rockets.  Other players didn't have the benefit of an extra set of hands (and feet in some cases) and would pause in their actions as they diverted attention from one set of controls to another.

It was minutes into their first match before they started getting hate tells via the games chat program.  Yenna and Red wisely agreed to keep microphones off for fear of being overheard in the background as they used their shorthand. 

Soon they were giggling and laughing gleefully as fighter after fighter disintegrated before them from superior teamwork and cooperation.  The trip ended with both of them in tears as Red flew in a loop through a donut shaped asteroid while Yenna dumped energy to shields and weapons while Red also targeted and fired on three fighters that had ganged up on them.  Yenna managed to send little heart emoticons to each of the players in turn while their fighters deadly payload streaked towards them.  All three erupted into balls of fire, one of them just so happened to be the Server Moderator:

BANNED YOU FUCKING CHEATER        

“Oh- heeehehehehe oh man that was epic.” Red said through tears of mirth.

“My stomach,  I can’t oh fuck it hurts so gooooood.” Yenna keened as she fell over on the loveseat and laughed hysterically, her clawed hands balled up in front of her fluttering mandibles.

Red loved to hear her laugh.  It filled a hole in his life, there was seldom laughter at the group home. 

When they had calmed she pulled her legs more fully onto the loveseat and regarded him cryptically behind cupped hands as she lay there breathing heavily.  Red stretched and slid up to her as she tucked her hands in between her legs and searched his face with her blood red eyes.

Red tenderly wiped away some of the tears from her facial plates with a thumb as he smiled at her.  Black painted nails slid over his hand as he stroked a mandible with a thumb, caressing the base of her neck with the rest of his hand.  She took one long satisfied breath and closed her eyes as she drank in his touch, feeling the texture of his hands with hers.

_Do it! Do it now!_

Red took a deep breath and moved closer still until their noses practically touched.  Her eyes darted back and forth from his eyes to his mouth as the expectation mounted.  The world seemed to stand still as his heart leapt into his throat.  She ran a hand through his curly red hair and closed the distance.


End file.
